'A refreshing complement to more venerable textbooks. Indeed, being both reflective and accessible, it is arguably a better first resort for aspirant hacks' Times Higher Education Supplement 'It is written in a clear and user-friendly style, avoiding the legalistic language that can be a problem with so many law textbooks. Particularly well written are the case studies that Ursula Smartt explains in each chapter' - Writing Magazine Media Law for Journalists functions as both an introduction and a reference guide to the main legal issues facing journalists. It is intended as a course textbook for students, first and foremost. However, it is also intended to help keep journalists out of jail and on the right side of the law. The book presumes no prior legal knowledge, but covers all the relevant areas including: defamation, privacy, contempt of court, freedom of expression, and intellectual property. It also looks at the difference between the English and Scottish legal systems as they pertain to the media. This book will be essential reading for all students of journalism as well a welcome guide to professional journalists.

Precise and lucid in its treatment of practical detail, McNae's Essential Law for Journalists is the unrivalled handbook for students of journalism and professionals. Including pithy summaries, clear cross-references, and hands-on practical advice, McNae's meets the needs of busy journalists who need quick and reliable answers to the questions they face in their day-to-day work, while also providing students with authoritative coverage of key media law topics. Published in partnership with the National Council for the Training of Journalists as the elemental text for students, and widely used in newsrooms across the UK, McNae's continues to successfully distil the law and make it manageable. Online resources Comprehensive online resources accompany the text, including regular updates from the authors to keep readers abreast of the law. www.mcnaes.com

"Whilst lip service has often been paid by judges and politicians to the importance of public access to court proceedings and its corollary of free media reporting, a trawl through common law jurisdictions reveals in reality a heavily circumscribed notion of open justice. Outside the United States where the media enjoy a considerable degree of freedom under the First Amendment to publish material relating to legal proceedings, judges and legislators elsewhere in common law jurisdictions have long subordinated media freedom to report and comment upon matters relating to the administration of justice in order to safeguard the fairness of individual proceedings and / or the more general interest of maintaining public confidence in the administration of justice." - from the Introduction.

Tom Crone's classic text has been thoroughly revised by an impressive team of legal experts. It provides an essential source of reference for the key legal issues encountered by those who work in the media such as journalists, editors and producers, as well as media lawyers. Topics covered include: Protection of Reputation Copyright and Rights Clearance New Media Breach of Confidence and Privacy The Data Protection Act 1998 Reporting Restrictions, Contempt of Court and Protection of Journalistic Sources The Freedom of Information Act 2000 and Official Secrets Professional Regulatory Bodies and Advertising The Human Rights Act 1998 The Law in Scotland and the United States of America Comprehensive supplementary reference material is also provided, including a glossary of legal terms, addresses, telephone numbers and web sites of professional bodies, and specimen agreements including interview agreements and moral rights waivers. With contributions from: Terence Bergin, Marietta Cauchi, Jane Colston, Mark Cranwell, Charles de Fleurieu, Simon Dowson-Collins, David Green, Peter Grundberg, Rebecca Handler, Joanna Ludlam, Rosalind McInnes, Hugh Tomlinson and John Wadham.

Essential Public Affairs for Journalists is an invaluable guide for both journalism students and practising journalists. It offers engaging coverage of the workings of both central and local government, and gives stimulating insights into how they are, and could be, covered by journalists.

Providing practical and theoretical resources on media law and ethics for the United Kingdom and United States of America and referencing other legal jurisdictions such as France, Japan, India, China and Saudi Arabia, Comparative Media Law and Ethics is suitable for upper undergraduate and postgraduate study and for professionals in the media who need to work internationally. The book focuses on the law of the United Kingdom, the source of common law, which has dominated the English speaking world, and on the law of the USA, the most powerful cultural, economic, political and military power in the world. Media law and ethics have evolved differently in the US from the UK. This book investigates why this is the case. Throughout, media law and regulation is evaluated in terms of its social and cultural context.The book has a companion website at http://www.ma-radio.gold.ac.uk/cmle providing complementary resources and updated developments on the topics explored.

As media law becomes more complicated and some of the leading textbooks thicker and larger, this concise guide provides core information without patronizing those with existing knowledge or bamboozling those with little expertise. Suitable for journalists, media workers, and anyone in the cultural or publishing industries, the book engages and addresses the Internet and blogging, social networking, instant messaging, digital multi-media publication and consumption as well as traditional print and broadcast. Each chapter covers substantive 'black letter law' and regulation/ethics, and kept in mind throughout will be the difference in duties and obligations between words and pictures, print and broadcasting. The focus is on the law relating to England & Wales, but with references to key differences to bear in mind in Scotland and Northern Ireland. Chapters start with bullet points, then flesh out the details and summarize pitfalls to avoid. Readers are left in no doubt about liabilities and potential penalties. Anticipating a dynamically changing arena, the text is also backed up by downloadable sound podcasts, videocasts, Internet source links throughout the book text, and a companion website so that any significant updates are immediately accessible direct from the ebook.

Over half a century ago, a leading commentator suggested that Scotland was very unusual in being a country which was, in some sense at least, a nation but in no sense a state. He asked whether something 'so anomalous' could continue to exist in the modern world. The Scottish Question considers how Scotland has retained its sense of self, and how the country has changed against a backdrop of fundamental changes in society, economy, and the role of the state over the course of the union. The Scottish Question has been a shifting mix of linked issues and concerns including national identity; Scotland's constitutional status and structures of government; Scotland's distinctive party politics; and everyday public policy. In this volume, James Mitchell explores how these issues have interacted against a backdrop of these changes. He concludes that while the independence referendum may prove an important event, there can be no definitive answer to the Scottish Question. The Scottish Question offers a fresh interpretation of what has made Scotland distinctive and how this changed over time, drawing on an array of primary and secondary sources. It challenges a number of myths, including how radical Scottish politics has been, and suggests that an oppositional political culture was one of the most distinguishing features of Scottish politics in the twentieth century. A Scottish lobby, consisting of public and private bodies, became adept in making the case for more resources from the Treasury without facing up to some of Scotland's most deep-rooted problems.